


Cleaning House

by molmcmahon



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, Master of Death Harry Potter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-26
Updated: 2020-11-26
Packaged: 2021-03-09 17:53:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,352
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27730324
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/molmcmahon/pseuds/molmcmahon
Summary: Sunnydale High needs a new janitor and Harry Potter has just lost his world. What could go wrong?
Comments: 9
Kudos: 297





	Cleaning House

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own either HP or BtVS.

Harry had never gone to a muggle high school before but he was pretty sure it wasn’t supposed to be like this. After everything and a few extra years in between, he had ended up in this dimension and in this town. In a town called Sunnydale and he was pretty sure there was something… supernatural going on. 

Sure, he had applied and was accepted as a janitor and that was different but… still. It had been an average looking town at first, with the high school sitting in the center of town and then the small, one block downtown a few blocks away. The cemetery sat to the south and the one nightclub sat on the corner of what apparently was the good part of town. 

His own apartment was right across from the Bronze, the aforementioned nightclub, small but sparsely furnished. Most of his magical equipment was in his trunk after all and his trunk was huge, at least on the inside. His broom sat by the door, his quidditch goggles strapped to the end of it. The refrigerator held a few remnants of leftovers but mostly from restaurants. He only cooked breakfast for himself and only cooked dinners for a week and kept them cool for eating for the next week.

The principal of Sunnydale High was short and to the point when Harry had shown up for an interview. They had lost the last two janitors and desperately needed another one, after the last one was murdered. The principal had remarked on Harry’s young appearance, saying that he would absolutely blend into the crowd of the heathens that were the students but didn’t say anything that Harry took to mean that he hadn’t gotten the job.

After the interview that really wasn’t an interview but an orientation, Harry was left alone to make himself familiar with the school. The bells had just rang a few minutes ago, announcing the end of the school day and the halls were bombarded by students a few years younger than him. Not one stared at him, thinking him to be just another normal kid. Granted, Harry was only 19, but he felt older. Fighting a war had done that to him and then losing his whole world had shaved off another few years.

He padded through the hallways, noting the entrance to the library at the end of the northern hallway and turned right at the library door. The janitorial closet was at the other end of the south hallway, across from the basement door. As he nudged the door open to what was now his territory, he turned to watch the students passing him by. He noted three in particular, two girls and one boy, the three walking alone. The other students avoided them like the plague, making Harry roll his eyes. . 

The girl in the middle was blond, her long hair falling down to her shoulders, and an easy smile on her face. Her blue eyes said she was thinking of other things, lost in thought. The other girl was dark haired, brown eyed and swallowed up by a turtleneck sweater. The boy had thrown an arm around the dark haired girl easily that spoke of old friends. 

As they passed him, only the blond girl seemed to notice him at all, her blue eyes narrowing. There was something about her that made his magic take notice, something dark or perhaps old, some power that radiated from her. Though she clearly wasn’t at all ‘dark’ in her choice of clothes. She dressed just like any popular girl in the school dressed, a bag thrown over a shoulder.  Harry raised an eyebrow and dipped his head her way before investigating the closet behind him. It definitely wasn’t as big as a wizarding closet and he idly wondered if he could get away with spelling it bigger but filed that away as a possibility. There was a regular broom, a mop, a bucket of rather smelly water, and various boxes of toilet paper and paper towels.

Filch’s office at Hogwarts had many things that were not in this closet and Harry snorted at the thought, his thoughts idly going to the Marauder’s map. He shook his head to rid himself of those memories and ventured around the closet itself, seeing a couple of sets of screwdrivers and similar tools. 

He would get started officially on the job tomorrow but he wanted to make sure supplies were stocked and well cared for now. Harry walked back to the door of the closet and stood in the doorway, idly watching the students passing him by before closing the door and heading to the basement.

“You’d be the new janitor, yes?”

Harry turned around at the words and looked over at the older man who had spoken. The man’s voice had been full of an English accent and he really did look like someone who had grown up in the English countryside. Wire rimmed glasses and a studious look met Harry as they stood face to face.

“I am. Who are you?”

“I am the librarian, Rupert Giles. Another Englishman?”

“Harry Potter. Yes, I suppose so,” Harry offered, shaking Giles’ extended hand and then letting his arms fall to his sides. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“I hope you weren’t discouraged by our principal,” Giles said, shaking his head and reaching to pull his glasses off his face to clean them. “He can be a bit…”

“Over the top?” Harry finished, smiling warily. 

Giles paused before replying, looking around at the hallways before turning to him again. “Yes. Yes, he is. I do believe he hates children.”

Harry frowned and then nodded. “I had a custodian like that where I went to school. Didn’t much like him either.”

Giles smiled faintly. “You’re awfully young to be working as a janitor already.”

“I’ve been around the block once or twice,” Harry remarked, shrugging. “I just want some… peace.”

Giles looked at him strangely and then lifted his shoulders. “Sunnydale is a strange place. I’m sure you’ll find something here.”

Harry raised an eyebrow. “Is that right? I’ve got nothing better to do. Might as well make sure the students and kids have a clean, accessible place to learn. The school where I went wasn’t always clean or accessible or easy.”

“Is that right? Where did you go to college then?” Giles questioned, staring at him with an intent look in his eyes.

“I didn’t.”

Giles blinked and Harry gestured to the library. “I’ll probably be around your neck of the woods more often than not anyway. Might find some good reading time off the clock.”

“Hmm?”

“Libraries have books, don’t they?”

“Oh, yes, they do. Yes.”

Harry snorted in amusement as he watched Giles watch him and then turned to head home. “It was nice to meet you, Mr Giles.”

“It was nice to meet you too, Mr Potter.”

  
  


* * *

The paper the next morning woke him up with the headline, “Student found dead in the theater of Sunnydale High!” Harry blinked awake as he sipped his tea and then stood up, stretched and got ready for work, his heart thumping lightly in his chest. He apparated to the school, landing in the corner of the janitorial closet, and turned the light on. He nudged the door open and propped it open, seeing the empty hallways in front of him.

The moonlight streamed in through the windows ahead of him, making him blink a few times at how bright it was. And letting him see the several pieces of litter that trailed over the hallway floors, almost as if they were leading somewhere. He sighed, checked around for any signs of life, and charmed some music to play.

The sound of light classical music streamed in the air above him, musical notes hovering above him as violins and guitars began to play. He got out the proper tools he needed, the mop, the sign for slippery floors, and the bucket of water, and went to work. Harry hummed along to the music as he worked, mopping the floors and cleaning the desks in the classrooms he passed. 

He threw out trash, made sure everything was stocked properly in the labrooms and avoided the classroom with all of the computers. He stocked the bathrooms with toilet paper and paper towels, cleaned the sinks and toilets. He cleaned most of the bathrooms with magic, sending the scrubbers and clean rags to scrub with a flick of his wrist. The bathrooms were mostly well kept, clean and well used. Though he did see a lot of markings on the bathroom stalls themselves, writing from various students of various years. 

Hearts were drawn with initials inside them and he traced them with a finger, after cleaning the stall walls thoroughly. Hogwarts had had the same thing though most of the writing on the bathrooms moved. 

There were bits of old blood speckled through some of the walls and floors as he moved on, causing him to pause. He had read the newspaper idly each day he had been here, had noted that quite a lot of students had died here. Or at least had been injured. 

He finally, idly, made it to the library as the moon slowly finished its travels, falling down on the other side of the sky than it had risen. Harry pushed the double doors open and looked out over the library, seeing the table at the center of the big room, surrounded by several small book shelves. There was an upper level to the library, one that had many shelves filled with books, and then a few doors behind them, which he suspected led to more. 

This library though… was not even on the level of Hogwarts. It didn’t have the floating books, didn’t have the students in wizarding robes and nor did it have Hermione. And his heart ached at the thought. He swallowed and tried to banish the past, the night after the last battle where he, Ron and Hermione had spent the night in his bed. The three of them had shared a peaceful night, an exhausted night and then it had all gone bad. 

Voices drew him out of his thoughts and memories, leaving him to look around for the people who were in the library at an ungodly hour. He pulled his magic back in, making the music that he had been humming along to, stop playing. He was here because he was paid to do it, regardless of him not actually needing the money. Why were… two men here? One voice was faintly familiar and English and Harry slowly lowered the mop to the floor, letting his magic soften the blow as it thumped down.

Giles was talking to someone, a younger someone, and yet… as Harry took a step forward, to see into the man’s office, he didn’t see anyone except Giles in the office. Or at least it was just Giles in the mirror that he could see but he definitely heard two voices. His magic flared around him and inside him, as the voices stopped.

A man stepped out, looking young in appearance, but… Harry tilted his head in confusion, looking back and forth between the guy and the mirror in Giles’ office. The guy was handsome, all dark and mysterious looking, with a leather jacket and a white shirt on underneath. Harry’s green eyes met dark ones and his heart skipped a beat, swallowing before clearing his throat.

“Sorry I interrupted. I can clean the library later,” Harry offered, shrugging as Giles stepped out of his office. “Does your office need cleaning?”

Giles stared at him intently and then shook his head. “No, it doesn’t, thank you. It’s not a problem. You weren’t interrupting anything important. Is this your first day?”

“Yep. I’ve seen worse states of cleanliness for schools to be in,” Harry replied, smiling faintly. The guy was still looking at him, his arms loose at his sides. Harry raised an eyebrow at the guy and that tiny ball of new magic that had entered his mind after he had died that night lit up. Or rather it darkened, shadowing his magic in shades of black. Death. The elder wand warmed in his hand, having slipped into his palm a second ago. The man he was looking at was  _ dead. _ Harry blinked and scooped up his mop again, sticking it in the bucket of sudsy water and tipped the mop towards Giles. “I’ll make sure to not get any books wet when I do clean the library.”

“Make sure you don’t and thank you. What do you mean you’ve seen worse?” Giles asked, glancing quickly at his friend and then looking at Harry.

“The last school I saw had been torn up by a nasty fight,” Harry offered, shrugging and turning to walk away. “Walls crumbling, doors torn off their hinges, suits of armor laying about willy nilly where they had fallen, books blown apart, bodies strewn--”

He stopped and swallowed, shaking his head. “It was a sight is all I’m saying. Well let me get back to work. I’ll leave you two to whatever you’re working on.”

He turned and walked off, pushing the doors open and stepped through. He subconsciously willed a piece of his magic to stay in the library, letting him overhear what the two men would say next.

“Who is he?”

Giles took a minute to reply, his voice sounding off. “Harry Potter. He’s the new janitor. Do you know him?”

“No.  He’s got power though, that much I know . I sense something but I don’t know what it is.” 

Harry froze even as he walked to the other end of the school, to where the gym was. He called back in his listening magic and pondered the stranger’s words, nodding to one of the teachers as the sun rose. He wondered… Had the man felt or sensed his magic or… And his own power. What had the elder wand wanted when it slipped into his fingers? Why had it warmed and why did he know, without a doubt, that the stranger had been dead? Or he supposed… as he put the dots together… a vampire?

He shook his head at the thoughts as dawn came and began to clean the gym, wiping down the locker doors, and the weights in the gym that the football team used. He was halfway through the boy’s locker room when one of the lockers rattled. Harry jumped back and blinked, his heart pounding as he stared at the locker. He snorted at his reaction and waved his hand over the room in general, whispering a spell to reveal anything out of the ordinary. It didn’t bring anything up so he just continued to clean, using some magic to help him. 

By the time the school bell rang to announce the start of the day, the locker room was beginning to sparkle. The clean rags that had scrubbed away at each individual locker door was dirty, the dust pan was full of dust and dirt and the floor was just starting to be scrubbed clean. The boy’s locker room smelled more than the girl’s locker room did and Harry wasn’t particularly surprised. There were a few similarities between this one and the quidditch ready room that Harry had gotten plenty familiar with, one of them being that they both stank.

He made sure there was no trace of magic before walking out, filing away where he had left off, and heading back to his janitorial closet. Students walked past him as he stood in the doorway, chattering amongst themselves as they struggled to stay awake. 

There was talk of prom throughout the school as he worked during the day, of the dance that would take place tomorrow night. Girls had already gotten their dresses ready and waiting in their bedrooms. Guys had their tuxes either bought or rented, their corsages pinned to their chests. Nothing would go wrong for them during that night and Harry sighed wistfully, memories of the Yule Ball flashing through his mind during the day. He had been thinking of too many things that evening, thinking of being entered in the TriWizard tournament without actually entering himself, thinking of how beautiful Hermione had looked in that blue dress. How Ron had looked even in those worn hand me down robes.

  
  


* * *

The blood coming out of the faucets in the bathrooms had been clue number one that something was amiss. Harry hadn’t thought much of the earthquake earlier that day though the deaths of four students had made him rethink things. As many students bused over to the school gym for the prom that evening, Harry stood in front of the door to the library, idly blinking at the utter chaos that was in front of him. The moon shone through the windows behind him and from what he could see of the windows in the library.

The double doors to the library had been thrown open… or busted open. He stepped through the wreckage only to see Giles, the stranger from a few nights ago, Ms Calendar, Cordelia Chase, Buffy Summers, Xander Harris and Willow Rosenberg standing around a skeleton. The table that usually sat in the center of the library was thrown to the side of the library and the shelves themselves were tossed around. The floor had been ripped up, torn apart by something underground, creating a giant hole in the middle of the library. 

There was slime across the railings of the upper level and Harry wasn’t sure he wanted to know where it had come from. 

The group of people in front of him looked exhausted and pleased though Buffy had a look in her eyes that was… weary, haunted. She wore a dress that was covered by a jacket and the dress itself was wet, had a few rips in places. The vampire himself was close enough to Buffy to catch her if she fell.

“Okay, what the fuck is going on in this town?”

Giles blinked.

“I know he’s a vampire,” Harry said, pointing to the dark haired stranger and then pointing to Buffy. “But who are you?”

“Pretty sure my name’s Buffy.”

“Uh, yeah, I know that much. What are you?” Harry asked, tilting his head in confusion. “What the fuck happened here? Was this another apocalypse? Does this world have prophecies because if it does, I’m out of here. I’ve had enough of prophecies and I only had to suffer through one.”

Buffy frowned and then blinked at him. “You too?”

“Yeah. Did you die too?”

Buffy nodded even as she swallowed. Harry flinched as he looked at everyone else and then back to Buffy.

“So… me vampire slayer. You?”

“Wizard.”

“Where’s your pointy hat and wand?” Buffy asked, her voice slurring a little bit with exhaustion.

“My pointy hat’s in my trunk and my wand…” Harry trailed off, digging into his pocket and sighing. “It’s always in a different pocket no matter where I put it.”

Buffy snorted loudly and Harry smiled faintly. 

“This might be the start of a beautiful friendship,” Buffy remarked, turning to look at the vampire and then to her other friends. “Angel and Giles were worried you were… I don’t know… what was the word you guys used?”

“That’s not important right now,” Giles said, frowning.

“Of course not. Let’s go party,” Xander offered, shrugging. 

“Party?” Harry echoed, looking at Buffy and then at… Angel. He wondered where the name came from as he looked the man over, sensing the darker half of the man. He wondered what Angel’s diet was, wondered how he had come to be a friend to a vampire slayer. Also… Buffy had said those two words like it was Vampire Slayer, upper case letters totally needed.

“Yeah, sure. We saved the world,” Buffy said, shrugging and swaying a little bit. 

“So this was an apocalypse.”

“Yep,” Buffy answered and led the way out of the library, past the damaged doors. 

**Author's Note:**

> Someone commented on one of my stories saying they wanted a Harry/Buffy/Angel story. I've been rewatching Buffy so this little drabble was born. This may not be THE Harry/Buffy/Angel story but it was fun to write.
> 
> I'll probably do the threesome in a 5+1 story, maybe with adding Spike in along the way.
> 
> Also I've got a Harry/Connor story on the way too.
> 
> HAPPY THANKSGIVING!


End file.
